Football

Post-match interviews with GAA managers still worth the wait

Kenny Archer

Kenny Archer

Kenny is the deputy sports editor and a Liverpool FC fan.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, like many other bosses, is still worth listening to after matches. Pic Philip Walsh
Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, like many other bosses, is still worth listening to after matches. Pic Philip Walsh Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, like many other bosses, is still worth listening to after matches. Pic Philip Walsh

There’s been some debate recently about the point or otherwise of post-match interviews with GAA managers.

Those who have tired of them contend that there are too many boring, bland statements trotted out, with bosses determined to ‘give nothing away’.

One columnist even suggested that such interviews are only used for filling space in newspapers. An online columnist, of course; those types have developed an antipathy for print similar to that of a lapsed Catholic for ‘the Church’.

In a twist on ‘the commentator’s curse’, such critics must have felt a little embarrassed when they witnessed Tyrone manager Mickey Harte’s interview with Mark Sidebottom of BBC NI after Saturday’s McKenna Cup final, which certainly made for compelling viewing.

Mickey Harte will always fight his corner and always say what he thinks. Most other managers also like to offer their opinions – and try to influence opinion.

Just because the most successful football boss of recent times, Dublin’s Jim Gavin, says little of note post-match, there’s no reason to stop listening to everyone else.

There may be some truth to the ‘filling space’ argument at Championship time, when quotes pieces and match reports tend to be distinct entities, but at this stage of the year the quotes/ report mix allows for flexibility.

If the boss(es) say little of interest, then few quotes need to be included, with more room given over to what happened during the game.

Ironically, the more interesting a manager is, the harder it is to write well about the game, at least in print, where space is finite.

The quotes are ‘out there’, among various outlets, so they have to be put in print as soon as possible, even if that’s at the expense of tactical analysis or detailed descriptions of controversial incidents or superb scores or saves.

There is a sense that many managers are happier to do television interviews because they know that the TV stations will show their exact responses. It’s a similar story with radio, where it’s tricky (although not impossible) to slice and splice quotes into a more dramatic narrative.

It’s actually rare in newspapers for quotes to be ‘taken out of context’ – the first resort/ excuse of someone who has said something they later regret.

That fear/ paranoia exists, though.

Certain counties even delegate PROs to record post-match interviews, presumably so that they can check the accuracy of what was actually said against what appears in print or online.

Much of it is not contentious or controversial, but there’s also a fear among journalists, the fear that, if you don’t trot along to the tunnel area, you’ll miss something (although kindly colleagues will usually supply you with quotes if you aren’t able to stick your recording device under a manager’s nose).

Truth be told, if some of the interviews conducted with the press pack were recorded and broadcast they’d make for much more compelling viewing than the preceding match.

Yet it’s the very lack of TV cameras, or live radio equipment, which sometimes encourages bosses to vent their spleen at an awkwardly phrased question, or a query that gets their goat for whatever reason.

The fact that the interviews often happen shortly after the final whistle can lead to comments made in the heat of the moment. As I’ve opined before, they’re usually all the better for that element of intensity.

The incident that will remain in my increasingly dodgy memory to the last is of Cork football legend Billy Morgan very calmly reaching out, taking a Dictaphone off a journalist, and tucking it into the waistband of his tracksuit bottoms.

Another boss went even further – well, almost – when he offered to fight a former colleague of mine on the pitch. Disappointingly, only words were exchanged.

As I slip further into my anecdotage, I may have previously revealed the names of those involved. If you don’t know, no prizes for guessing the name of the combative (that’s code) reporter. The identity of the manager might well surprise you though.

Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney tends to wait a short while until speaking to the media, but even after his ‘cooling off period’ he almost always has something interesting and insightful to say. Replying to a gentle opening question by saying that his own team were ‘terrible’ was just the most recent example.

So I’m not giving up on post-match interviews yet, even knowing the long wait which will ensure when certain managers suffer defeat.

* Obviously I went to watch the wrong Tyrone team on Saturday night, although I’m glad I didn’t jinx Dungannon Swifts by my presence and that they won their first senior trophy, the BetMcLean League Cup.

Manager Rod McAree deserves great credit; I first knew him as Rodney, the talented, (slightly) younger brother of a friend.

It’s no surprise he developed into a fine footballer and now manager. After all, he’s the son of the person who basically ran the Swifts when I first went there as a reporter – his mum Carol.

His dad Joe has also exerted some influence around Stangmore Park over the decades. He’s at fault for getting me into sports reporting but, trust me, he’s a great man.

As defeated Ballymena United boss David Jeffrey would say, I’m delighted, delighted for the Swifts family – and especially THE Swifts family, the McArees.